Winter birds that I photographed the last two days include Common Ravens gathering on trash day in the neighborhood near where my bird class is.

Although I did see a flyover flock of Bohemian Waxwings, the fruit trees in that neighborhood were mostly beautiful and snow-covered and birdless.

Photographed yard birds include a Red-breasted Nuthatch, Common Redpolls and Black-billed Magpies.

The winter birds in our yard include a couple of Black-capped Chickadees, one of which is Curly, the Black-capped Chickadee with the deformed beak. Curly survived overnight temperatures of minus 24 degrees on the 18th and minus 7 degrees on the 19th. In addition to Curly’s beak, another noteworthy feature is Curly’s constant movement. I am including a couple of videos that show this as well as how Curly is able to pick up food by leaning over sideways. It apparently is easier for Curly to feed on the snow rather than on a hard surface because Curly’s beak can dig into the snow when Curly is trying to pick up some food particle.

Today it went to just above zero degrees, which in comparison to a couple of days ago seems like a heat wave. I’m hoping for a bit more heat wave so it is more comfortable to get out and bird.